Spring-cushion construction



w w. BABENDERERDE.

SPRING CUSHION CONSTRUCTION.

APPLICATION FILED .IULY 29 ISIS.

Patented June 21, 1921.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Wr/Z077 )w76 Y 'BALBENDERERDE or CHICAGO,

ILLINOIS, iassreriron,Y BY IIESNE, ASSIGN MENTS, 'ro IIAILIIONY SPRINCCUSHICN Co., v 'A CORPORATION Yor ILLINOIS.

' SPRING-CUSHIONCONSTRUCTION r nppiieatid med July 29.

To all inkom, it may ,concern i Be it known that I, lWALTER BBENDER- ERDE, a citizen .of the UnitedStates, 'and la resident of Chicago, in the county of YCook and :State of Illinois, have invented certain new andy useful Improvementsin Spring-v CushionA Constructions, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relateslto ai construction for spring cushions and the like, and has' for its primary object the provision of an improvedvspring element by the use of which practically noiseless cushions may be constructed without necessitating the use of clothV pockets or other iexible separating elements between the Vcoils of adjacent elements.- Another ob'ectis the provision of a novelform of spring element adapted for i grouping into larger spring units for' providing within any givenarea the maximum cushioning effect Vand a low lweight of material. A. further object isthe provision of an improved lcushion constructionl which, in addition to the above mentioned advantages, is so arranged that, under compression, the A element cannot interlap shorten the compressible ldistance of theV cushion Yby-"fillin'g up the spaces between superposed coils of any pair of spring 'elev ments; this object being accomplished without the interposition of thoseiiexible webs rcommonly employed for such purpose.. A

further object is the provision ofa cushion construction simple inform and cheap to manufacture. j I f l Other objects and advantages ofthe invention will appear fromthe following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings which forma part of 'this specication 1 and`v illustrate :the pref ferredembodiment ofthe invention.

In the drawings:I

Figure 1 is a perspective view (with port'ionsbr'oken away 'andthe padding turned up) of a spring Cushion constructed'in accordance with the presentV invention.

' Fig. 2 is a fragmentary 'top plan [View thereof with the padding and covering removed.

, Fig. ye is a -ffagmenmyrseaien onf une 3+?, f;Fig 2- iv Fig. 4 apartial 'section on line fl-4y of Fig'. 2, wlth the spacing wires removed, and

Specication of Letters Patent.

u Patented June 21,1921.

191.8. Serial N0. 247,316.`

comprising a prism-shaped 4helix of spring i Awire in. .therform of an isosceles Vtriangle when .viewed from either end. Each com'- Yplete coil of the helix defines atriangle having two equal legs. connected by a base; the bases of all the coils of one helix lyin in a commonxplane,'and the correspondinglegs of each coil lying respectively in two planes which preferably forma right angle with each other. While in the preferred embodimentA of the invention anlend view of Vthe spring element defines an isosceles right triangle, it is to be understood `that the principles-of thepresent'invention are aplica- Yble to` constructions wherein the en View of'vthe springelement .defines a square or any other fiat sided figure. Within each of the three planes defined bythe base and sides of the prism, Vthe V`respective bases andk legs'of the coils of the helix lie parallel to each other and spaced apar-tin the plane, Vthel opposite ends of each element. being tapered as shown at 11, if itis .desired to cause the ends of the helix to define lparallel planes at right angles to the *axis of the helix. For convenience in description the basevof each coil of the helix is numbered 12, the left hand leg 13, and the righthand Ylegl't.

' 1 In constructing a cushion from the above described spring element, every element employed' in the cushion lcomprises aglielix wound in a common direction, vpreferably "cloekwiseuor the manner `of a right threaded screw.y For the purpo'seo secur-f ing 'a VI'na'xirnun'i cushioning effect within any given portion of theweight supporting of the cushion, as well as for facilit in assembling, thel 'construction' which isthat in which four elements are grouped together to form a unit, square in plan vi'w prefer various units are also Vpreferably spaced the same distance from each other in thel cushion, these spacings vbeing secured through any suitable media, although I,y conceive the simplest to be the spacing ywires running from front toback of the cushion, andthe identical spacing wires 16 `crossing wires 15 at right angles. As. best' seen in Fig. 3, vthese wires traverse` thecushion alongl its top andbottonrand `extend. from` a frame wire l'vwhichdefines the top' or bottom edge of the'cushion, to the center of the adjacent `base of the end coil. of one helix;` around which it .is looped aszat 18;' thence directly acrossthe coil-'to theqapex thereof, where vit is looped as at 19 about the coil; thence'in the same direction to the apex of the correspending, coil-'inthe oppositehelix of the unit, `about which -it is-.looped :as at 20; thence-.to the center of; the `base .of vthe last kmentioned c0il,-about which itis looped as ati 21; jthence-similarly across each: unit to the opposite 'side` of. frame wire. 17. The endsof each spacing wire are secured as at 222m opposite parallel reaches lofthe frame ywire 17. rj 11 *Because of the'` factthat the spring elements are -helixesA wound Iin Va commondi-V rectiofn, thosel legs, or. bases of the coilsfof adjacent helixes `whichare positioned sub1 stantially at the: sam'eheight in the-:cushion are oppositely,y inclined with respect yto each -other, so that, 'when viewed` as in Fig.;A 11,.

.they cross eachy other. Great Aimportance "attaches, tothis arrangement, inasmuch as the central coils ofadjacentelementsin the 'f cushion, when under pressure, and thereforejdistorted against each'other, cannot interfit but can :only slide across eachother. In Fig; L the legsgl of the-left hand element are shown in ellevation, as viewed from the interior ofthe helix, 4and these legsl slant :downwardly `from leftto right, toward -the vcenter; of the figure.

legis shown, while. the adjacent legs 1 3 of i i theelement just beyond appear back oflegs 14 and-show -infull lines only in the spaces between the legsV 14:;y inV this Vrig'htmhand element-the vfull line j legs slant downwardly f fromleft tofright, and theY legs-13 behind them slant.` downwardly from right to left.

.In practiceadjacent spring elements will .he ,distortedunder the; pressure of a, person ends of the helixesings, the leg`s`13 of the coils of each helix are opposed to the legs 14 of thecoilsof an adjacent helix, while the basesofV the coils i maintain adj acent helixes that the opposed In the space between the legs113- ofthe left hand element the ,op-v

sitting upon thecushion, so that ltheir; entrai coils of adjacent elements will be brought into Ycontact in many instances, but thebindf ing wires 1 5 land 16 piv'ent relative h'orizontalv movement ofthe upperV 4'and' lower 70 As seen in the drawof'each helix-,in the body of the cushion, are opposed to the bases of the coils of a helix in an adjacent unit. Notonly are-all of Vthese opposed legs land basesV slanted in opposite directions Y from 'v eachother with respect to the vhorizontal,.;so fthat-they merely slide against Ieach other without the possibility ofthe coils offone' helix entering between :the coils of another,"butlthelbases oi' the coils of each helix. are in a common plane, andfall the legs 13 Vof each-helix are in anotheruconimoniplane, vand allthellegs 14.v oi each helix arepina thirdcommon plane. By thev arrangement .ofV the present invention-fthe binding :wires 1 5 and 16,so

base Vplanes of adjacent units. arefnormally; parallel to each other vwhile -the planes of vopposed-legs 13 and .111 are. also normally parallel to each-other. Because of this parallelism, and because of* the urtherfact l that each leg `and each baseofevery'coilfu. `remains vstraight under pressure v:even though slightly twisted,A the action p ofj the cushion, whena weight isplacedupon it or removed from i t is practically noiseless. This is due tothe lactthat while Vthe parallelplanes defined by opposedbases, for example, may belly towardeach other along .the vertical lines untilwtheytouch and rub against eachother, there isat the same time no appreciable distortionv of these bases, within the-bellied planes `Inother words, whenthe cushion is under compressiomtwo opposed bases of adjacent'coils, though in contact with and crossing eachother, have their -juxtaposed v surfaces in f a; common l' plane; not Vonly at vthe pointwhere those surfaces actually touch in the"crossing'of` the bases, but alsofthroughfall thefremainf ing .juxtaposed or outer y surfaces ofj both planes. Itis thus seen thatwhether adja- `cent spring 4,elements are constructed'- of or round wire, there-.can beno locking be:-l tween contacting bases of'a'dj ac fen't"V elements or contacting legs of adjacent elementsfor lthe reason,that the opposed basesA` or legs` `can only ,slide f againsty each other andY `can- Vr.In the preferred',fornil 'of construction la. pluralityof elementsv 10 are groupedinto 125 the square units above described, and a s uii-` cient number of thesennits assembledto f lform a cushion or'mattress. ofthesizeY def sired, all of the units being identical and Qf equallength, ,Framefwresrglffarepositioned about the bottoms and tops of the assembled units, and the units secured in position within the frame wires and in equally spaced relation kto each other by means of the binding wires 15 and 16. One or more pads 23 are laid upon the tops of the elements and the upper fame wire 17, and the whole cushion thus formed is i11- closed by means of the ordinary cover 24 of leather or other suitable material. The cover and padding may be tufted by means of buttons 25.

In Fig. 5 is illustrated a unit formed by grouping eight of the spring elements of` the present invention, instead of four; the

elements themselves remaining the same as j heretofore described. In this grouping the unit is square inv end view, the sides of the squares being defined by the Vlegs of the various coils and the diagonals of the squares being formed by the bases of the various coils. In Fig. 6 a spring element 10a is shown formed of wire round in cross-section instead of liattened; and it is to be noted that the advantages of this invention are inherent in cushions formed of roundwire spring elements as well ask in thosel only of said elements for retaining said ends against relative transverse movement; said elements being grouped together to forml a unit which in end contour is a regular polygon.

3. A spring unit for cushions, comprising a plurality of identical prism-shaped helixes, each being in end contour an isosceles right triangle, and means engaging the endsonly of said elements for retaining said ends Y against relative transverse movement, said elements being spaced from each other and forml grouped to form in end contour a regular pvlygon-y 4. The combination of four prism-shaped helixes of spring metal which in end View are isosceles right triangles, and means for retainingsaid helixes together in a unit wherein the bases of the four prisms form the side faces of av square prism and the apex edges of said-prisms 4are positioned centrally of said prism shaped unlt.

5. The combination of four identical prism-shaped helixes of spring metal-which fin endy view are isosceles right triangles, and

means for retainingsaid yhelixes together in a unit wherein the bases of the four prisms form the side faces of va square Iprism and the apex ed es of said prisms are positioned centrally o said prism-shaped unit, said means maintaining the four elements unispaced apart.

6. n a cushion construction, the combination of a plurality of identical prism-shaped helixesV of spring metal having their vaxes parallel, said helixes being each a regular polygon in end view, and means whereby the helixes are grouped together in regularly shapedunits.

7 The combination with frame wires, of a plurality of identical prism-shaped elements ofV spring wire having their axes parallel and grouped closely together in regularly-shaped units, and spacing means or. securing said units in close association within theV frame wires.

. 8. A spring cushion construction, comprisingin combination a plurality of spring units each formed of four identical prismshaped helixes of spring wire which in `end lelevation are isosceles right triangles, the

right angles of the triangles being grouped together at the center of each unit, andthe bases of the four triangles forming the sides of a square, the sides of adjacent helixes in each unit'being parallelv to each other and the sides of adjacent units being parallelto each other.

In witness whereof I have hereto aixed my signature. l

WALTER BABENDERERDE.

identical 

